The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (136 page)

“
Delbert,” the older man
said, stepping forward, “and this is John,” he said pointing at the
dark haired young man, “and Peggy.” He paused for a few seconds.
“Might've over-reacted a bit, I guess, but we haven't seen nothin'
but bad the last few days. Thought you might be some of a group we
ran into yesterday... things is awful balled up, ain't they? It’s
hard to tell who you can, or can't trust.” With that the man seemed
to consider them briefly, and then set his rifle aside.

The man’s fear, that had been so
evident once Beth and Billy were standing face to face with him,
seemed to melt away. Beth stuffed the machine pistol into her
jeans, and Billy slung the rifle over his shoulder before he stuck
out his hand. “Good to meet you,” Billy said, “I think we were
beginning to think we wouldn't meet anyone at all who wouldn't try
to kill us.” Beth stuck out her hand as Billy finished speaking,
and the young man and woman put their own weapons aside and stepped
away from the sidewalk and shook the offered hands.

“
You from here?” Delbert
asked, as he also shook their hands.

“
L.A.,” Beth replied,
“heading east, how about you?”

“
Texas,” Peggy, the young
woman said, “You headin' east for the same reason we
are?”

“
Kind'a feels like we're
drawn in that direction,” Delbert said, “can't explain it a lot
better than that I guess.”

His accent was slight, Billy noticed,
not thick like some he had heard. “We feel the same way. Tried
South... South is no good,” Billy said. He looked at Beth who
nodded before he continued. “We could all make the trip together,”
he offered, “It might be a lot safer that way?” Beth echoed the
invitation.

“
See no reason not to,”
Delbert said slowly, as he turned his eyes to the couple beside
him. “Peggy, John?”

“
I'm for it,” John agreed.
He had a slightly thicker accent, Beth noticed, well, maybe not an
accent really, she told herself, he just talks somewhat
slowly.

“
Me too,” Peggy said, and a
smile lit up her face as she spoke. “No lie. I've been pretty
scared, and it'll be good to have more of us, I think.”

“
I lied,” Beth said, and
then hastily continued, “We didn't stop because we saw you. We
stopped because we need ammunition. We got ambushed, sort of,
and... Well, we got out of it. I didn't mean to lie, I just wasn't
sure we could trust you, and I didn't think it would be a good idea
to tell you we were running low, not knowing if... you know...” she
finished lamely.

“
Don't give it a thought,”
Delbert said, “can't say as I blame you. In fact,” he said reaching
for his shotgun, and opening the breech. “We did too, but there
isn't any here. I hoped to scare you off, but the truth is, we're
out of ammunition ourselves. If you had been... well, bad, I guess
we would've been screwed.” He finished by setting the empty shotgun
against the door frame, resting butt down on the
pavement.

“
You mean,” Billy said,
“you're out completely?”

“
Oh yeah,” John said, “I've
been out since yesterday, and whatever was in this shop is gone.
Somebody cleaned it out.”

Billy and Beth followed the others into
the small shop. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to
the sparse light inside, but once they did they could see that the
shop had been ransacked. Two large glass display cases that had
probably held, who knew how many handguns, Billy thought, were
empty. The glass fronts had been shattered into the cases. Racks
that had once been likewise protected by lockable glass sliding
doors had also been broken into, the thick glass that had once
protected them lay inside, but the rifles they had protected were
gone. Nothing had been left. The floors were strewn with empty
boxes, wads of packing paper, and literature on several types of
guns that had been discarded. The glass from the cases was
everywhere, Billy saw.

“
Looks as though they
didn't leave anything at all,” Billy said.

“
Told you,” John said, as
he shook his head. “Somebody got here before us, and it looks as
though they weren't about to leave anything behind,” he
sighed.

“
You have any ammo at all?”
Beth asked.

“
I do,” Peggy answered,
“I've got seven rounds for this 30.06, that's why... well, that's
why I hung back when we saw you, you know. I could see you through
the window, and... If I had too, I was going to shoot,” she seemed
embarrassed as she spoke.

“
She's 'bout the best shot
between the three of us,” Delbert said, “my eye's is going, and
John just never learned to shoot.”

John turned red, but nodded his head
before he spoke. “Just never saw a real big need to learn,” he
said, “course now I wish I had.”

“
Been anywhere else in
town?” Billy asked, “Maybe there's another sporting goods store
around.”

“
Didn't have the time,”
Delbert said, “we got here only ten minutes or so before you
did.”

“
Well,” Beth said, as she
counted up what ammunition she had left for the machine pistol,
“I've got one full clip of sixteen, and... Looks like two in this
clip, and I'm done.”

Billy had checked over what he had
while she was speaking, “Looks like this one is down to ten in the
clip, but I've got better than a hundred rounds for the Remington
in the truck, that should help a little. We need to find a place to
get our hands on more, especially for that machine pistol,” he
gestured at Beth's weapon, “and this one,” he said holding up the
machine gun they had taken from the kid who had tried to shoot
Beth, “this is a...” he held the machine gun up so he could read
the writing on the side, “Hey, Beth, this say's it'll take nine
millimeter slugs like yours, let me see one,” he waited until she
handed him one that she took out of the full clip, and then
compared them side by side. “Yeah, same thing,” he said, “this
doesn't have a brand name on it though, just says what sort of
bullet it takes, everything else has been ground off, see,” he held
the side of the machine gun up so that Beth could see
it.

“
That's been converted,”
she said, “and that's probably why they ground off the serial
number, and most likely the model and make at the same time. That's
been converted to full auto,” she finished.

“
Gee, does that mean it's
illegal to carry?” he asked, “you're not going to arrest me or
something are you.”

“
Ha-ha, mister funny man,”
Beth said smiling. “It does explain something that has been bugging
me though. When that guy popped up and let loose on me, I thought
he was squeezing those rounds off pretty quick. You can buy that
gun, or could, I should say, and you could even order the
conversion kit, but if you got caught, big trouble. I've seen a few
though...Just the same, and I'm glad that one fell into our hands,
and not someone else's.”

Billy turned the gun over in his hands;
his appreciation for it was much greater than it had been. “So what
is it?” he asked.

“
It's called a Sixteen Nine
on the Street,” Beth said. “I don't know what it's really called,”
Billy looked confused. “Sixteen for the clip,” she said, “and nine
for the ammunition size. See?” she held up her own pistol,
comparing the two side by side. “They're nearly identical, except
for that long wire stock on yours. Makes it look more like a rifle.
Mine's semi, that one's full.”

“
And we can swap back and
forth on ammunition?” Billy asked.

“
Just on the ammunition,”
Beth answered, “the clips won't fit.”

“
Well, with just sixteen
bullets wouldn't it run out pretty quick?”

“
Not pretty quick, babe,
damn quick, like immediately. I think the attraction was speed,
sixteen bullets in less than half a second. You can get a larger
clip that'll hold two hundred.”

Billy turned his head back to the other
three who had been listening to Beth talk. They all seemed
impressed. “I guess,” he said looking around the destroyed shop,
“we better get going. Is that truck of yours in pretty good shape
Delbert?”

“
Junker,” Delbert said, “it
was nice, when we left Dallas, but it's on its last leg for sure
now. That's why I left it running; bitch-kitty won't start if you
don't, and to be honest, I been too damn scared to stop and get
another.”

“
Well,” Billy said, “leave
it. We got room in ours for all three of you.”

Beth was staring around at the wrecked
interior of the shop, it wasn't the damage that bothered her
though, it was all the missing rifles, and guns. “Yeah, let's get
out of here,” she said, “this place gives me the creeps, and I for
one don't want to be here in case whoever took all of this...” she
gestured at the empty shop, “...returns.”

Everyone, Billy included, looked
apprehensively around the empty shop.

“
Yeah, let’s go,” Billy
said hastily, as he turned and walked out the door.

They all scouted carefully around the
parking lot, as they walked to the Suburban. Anyone could be hiding
in this lot, Billy thought, as he looked around at the packed
parking lot, anyone, anywhere. They reached the truck, Billy
unlocked it, and they all climbed quickly inside. Several sighs of
relief were released once Billy started the Suburban, and drove
from the lot.

A half mile down the road, Delbert
spotted another store and Billy cautiously pulled into the lot to
have a look. He was able to drive up close to the shop, without
getting out of the truck. The glass store front, including the
doors, were barred by a segmented aluminum pull down door, and the
store looked as though no one had as of yet been in it.

“
What do you think?” Billy
asked of no one in particular.

“
Don't look as though it's
been broke into yet,” John replied, “gonna have to leave the truck
to be sure,” he finished with an apprehensive shrug of his
shoulders.

Beth pulled the nearly spent clip from
the machine pistol, and clicked home the full one. “Stay here, I'll
go see,” she said, and she was out the passenger door before Billy
could protest.

Billy shut off the truck, and got out.
No way, he thought as he jumped from the truck, no frigging
way.

Delbert looked from John to Peggy. “I
don't know about you, but they got the guns, and I ain't keen on
staying in here without one,” he said, as he opened one of the rear
doors, and stepped out. He carried the empty shot gun with him as
he went, and Peggy and John brought their guns out of the truck
with them as well.

Billy was staring through the segmented
burglar door into the interior of the small shop, as Delbert walked
up. “What's it looking like, Billy?” he asked.

Beth was back on the sidewalk, the
machine pistol in her hands, sweeping the parking lot with her
eyes, Peggy and John beside her.

“
Looks like nobody got to
it,” Billy said, “what do you think, Dell?”

Delbert squinted into the shop. “Hard
to tell, but I think you're right, Billy, it looks good to me. But
this door is gonna keep us out, just like it's kept out ever one
before us.”

“
Uh-uh,” Billy said, “not
me it isn't.” He turned face and walked back to the
Suburban.

“
Look out, Dell,” he said,
as he started the truck, and cramped the wheel around to bring it
up on the sidewalk. “Saw this on a cop show once, here
goes...”

Billy lined the truck up even with the
front doors in back of the aluminum burglar door, backed up, and
punched the gas pedal. The rear tires screeched briefly as the
truck bumped up over the curb and hit the door. The truck passed
through the aluminum door as if it were made of paper and barely
tapped the inside glass doors before Billy locked up the brakes.
The light tap on the doors was all it took to shatter the safety
glass. Billy reversed the truck, and backed down off the sidewalk.
He cramped the wheel once more, and shut off the truck, leaving it
almost where it had been in the first place. He got out and looked
over the front of the truck; there was not even a single scratch to
show where the massive bumper had connected with the aluminum door
and then the glass. He stood up from his examination of the bumper,
and was surprised to see everyone staring at him.

“
What?” he said. “I told
you I saw it on a cop show once. Of course I didn't know it would
work so well,” he finished grinning.

“
You're an animal,” Beth
said, grinning back.

“
Well folks,” Billy said as
waved his arm at the store, “looks like the store's open after
all.”

Delbert, John, and Peggy, were all
grinning too, and Delbert said, “If I ever lock myself out of my
house, I guess I won't be asking you for help, Billy,” he broke
into a hearty laugh when he finished speaking, and within seconds
they all found themselves laughing along.

“
Well, let’s go get that
ammo,” Beth said laughing, and they all walked into the
shop.

They spent no more than an hour in the
shop, before they had completely re-outfitted themselves. They were
able to obtain new camping gear, ammunition, and three more of the
nine mm machine pistols. They all reasoned they were much more
effective than the old single-shot rifles, and shotguns that
Delbert's group had been carrying, and the fact that they would all
now be able to use the same caliber ammunition was
appealing.